By Roger Lanse

Michael Mercer, 76, of Silver City, was found unresponsive on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020, inside his white Toyota pickup about 60 feet down an embankment along Highway 15 about 4 ½ miles above Pinos Altos. According to Silver City Police Chief Freddy Portillo, Mercer had sustained a gunshot wound to the left side of his head and a 9 mm handgun was located inside the cab of the pickup.

The Pinos Altos Volunteer Fire Department was first on the scene, followed by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, according to the GCSO, who then assisted the SCPD with the case as the city had originally reported Mercer as missing. According to Portillo, the call reporting Mercer’s discovery came in to the Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority at approximately 3:20 p. m.

Mercer was reported as missing in early January, 2020 and both Portillo and Lt. Mike Burns of the GCSO advised that law enforcement agencies had been looking for him for about a month before he was found Sunday. Burns told the Beat that a rope was used to safely descend to the crash site.

Staff from the Office of the Medical Investigator arrived on scene Sunday, according to Burns. Mercer’s cause of death will await autopsy results. The incident remains under investigation.

This is the original Silver Alert for Mercer: https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/55195-silver-alert-for-silver-city-police-department-michael-a-mercer